Council favours refiring station

Northland Regional Council staff and consultants are recommending that a plan by Mighty River Power to convert the mothballed Marsden power station to a 300MW coal-burning plant should be allowed to go ahead.

A string of conditions are attached to the recommendations, including a restriction on the amount of seawater to be taken for cooling.

A velocity limit on the plant's water intake would allow fish to swim away without being sucked into the cooling system.

Council staff believe air emission control equipment should create no adverse effects on human health or the environment, including vegetation in the Whangarei Heads area.

The company's controversial proposal to convert the old station to a coal-burning plant for power generation is to be considered during a joint hearing by four independent expert commissioners at Onerahi in Whangarei, starting on June 27.

The panel of commissioners appointed by the regional council and the Whangarei District Council are former High Court judge Peter Salmon, of Auckland (chairman); water and landfill expert Garry Venus (Auckland); air quality expert Dr Mark Goldstone (Australia), and Auckland planner and land use expert David Hill, who will represent the district council.

Hearings are expected to take about six weeks with 1000-odd submitters wanting to speak to their submissions.

Might River Power seeks, from the regional council, a total of 11 air, land use and coastal resource consents needed to operate the converted power station, while a 12th consent, for land use, is sought from the district council.

Around 3000 people have made submissions. Regional council consents manager Dave Roke says more than 95 per cent of submissions are from people opposed to Mighty River Power's plans for the station.

The refired station would be on the same site as two earlier, now closed, power plants at Ruakaka.